*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of sylph

First attested in 1657. From New Latin sylphes, coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”). Ultimately from the root silva (“woods, forest

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

An invisible being of the air. · The elemental being of air, usually female. · A slender woman or girl, usually graceful and sometimes with the implication of sublime station over everyday people. · Any of the mainly dark green and blue hummingbirds (genus Aglaiocercus), the male of which has a long forked tail.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

First attested in 1657. From New Latin sylphes, coined by Paracelsus in the 16th century. The coinage may derive from Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”) and nympha (“nymph”). Ultimately from the root silva (“woods, forest”). Related to sylvan. More at Wikipedia.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la-new",
        "3": "sylphes"
      },
      "expansion": "New Latin sylphes"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "sylvestris",
        "4": "",
        "5": "of the woods"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin sylvestris (“of the woods”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "sylphes",
      "sylphes#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "sylvestris",
      "sylvestris#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "nympha",
      "nympha#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "silva",
      "silva#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "sylvan",
      "sylvan"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "An invisible being of the air.",
        "The elemental being of air, usually female.",
        "A slender woman or girl, usually graceful and sometimes with the implication of sublime station over everyday people.",
        "Any of the mainly dark green and blue hummingbirds (genus Aglaiocercus), the male of which has a long forked tail."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ],
      "recordId": "d88eb67676887cfbc0d109145e402f0f02682746c30a2727ab1920b1487e4b7f",
      "rawRecordSha256": "55f3e0daee57a83f53d986255eb87bc2bc73caeab585bc612313b9a86bb921c6",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 428851
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for sylph →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-c3lscGg